


caffeine, or the lack thereof

by perfectlyrose



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/M, Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-17
Updated: 2015-08-17
Packaged: 2018-04-15 04:10:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4592415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perfectlyrose/pseuds/perfectlyrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thanks to a dare, Rose can only have one caffeinated beverage a week. She’s about to take a sip of that one beverage when someone runs into her on the street and spills it. (Eight/Rose AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	caffeine, or the lack thereof

Rose didn’t know what the hell had possessed her to agree to a dare with Jack that had the potential to last an entire year. She was blaming it all on the variety of alcohol she’d imbibed at Jack’s New Year’s bash. About an hour before midnight she had found herself on the couch next to her best friend and talking about resolutions for the New Year over the din of the party. Neither of them had one so Jack proposed a dare in the place of a resolution. Rose, a certifiable caffeine junkie, would only be allowed to have a caffeinated beverage once a week while Jack, a party animal if there ever was one, could only have one alcoholic beverage per week. Whoever caved first had to buy the other one chips and concede bragging rights to the winner for the rest of the year.

They’d made the dare, sealed it with a pinky promise and a kiss in their traditional method. Both thought the other would only last a week, _maybe_ two before giving in.

Neither had accounted for the fiercely competitive streak they both possessed.

It was halfway through February, about six and a half weeks in, and Rose was seriously considering calling and waking up Jack just so she could curse him out. Again. Not being allowed caffeine in the mornings was her own personal version of hell. Once they found out about the dare, her group at Vitex had learned to give her at least an extra hour in the morning before attempting a productive conversation with her. There was no version of the universe where Rose Tyler was a morning person.

Unfortunately, if she called Jack he would just rub it in that he was getting coffee now that he was awake and she didn’t want to deal with that this morning.

Rose shivered and rubbed her hands together as she walked the last few blocks to work. It was only Tuesday but she desperately wanted caffeine. The knowledge that she would probably have to work overtime today to finish a project with a fast-approaching deadline sealed the deal and Rose quickened her pace, eager to get to her favorite coffee shop.

She ordered her normal (well…since the bet had started) vanilla latte with six shots and walked out of the shop without taking a sip. Rose continued down the sidewalk, enjoying the heavenly scent coming from the steaming cup in her hands.

Oh this was so worth using her weekly caffeine allotment on a Tuesday. She lifted the cup to her mouth and was about to take her first sip when someone slammed into her, sending her coffee flying to the ground.

Rose stared at the spilt latte for a moment in disbelief before spinning to see who was at fault for her caffeine fix being on the ground instead of working its way into her bloodstream.

“Terribly sorry, I was not paying attention to my surroundings. I do hope the coffee didn’t land on you,” the mystery man said as he shot out a hand to steady her.

Rose froze for a moment as their eyes caught. He looked genuinely apologetic and worried but she was more focused on the fact that the coffee menace was probably the most gorgeous bloke she’d seen in ages. Maybe ever. And he had a voice to match, all velvety and smooth and enticing.

And she was staring. Shit.

“No, no it didn’t get on me.” Rose straightened and pulled back from where he still had his hand on her arm. “What the hell were you doing that you weren’t lookin’ where you were going though?”

His expression turned sheepish, but the sparkle in his blue eyes intensified. “I was answering a text from a friend who was berating me quite creatively and with as many texts as she could manage for getting her to agree to a bet while she was drunk last weekend.”

“Drunken bets are never a good plan,” Rose said, shooting a glance at her spilled latte. According to the rules of the bet she couldn’t buy herself a new one even though she hadn’t even taken a sip and she was mourning the loss of her weekly caffeine.

“I take it you have experience?”

“Made a bet with a friend on New Year’s Eve and we’re both too stubborn to let the other win so it’s still going on,” she explained with a wry smile.

“May I ask what the bet is?” he said, smile spreading. “It sounds like a good story to listen to while I buy you a new coffee.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Rose hedged. She desperately wanted a replacement coffee and to listen to this man’s enticing voice for a bit longer but she didn’t want to insist on it.

“I really do. Please let me buy you another since I so rudely spilled yours,” he urged.

“Alright, the coffee shop is just there.” She pointed two storefronts down the block.

“So what is this bet of yours?” He asked, offering his arm.

Rose could feel her cheeks heating up as she took it, practically snuggling up to this stranger. Hopefully the bitter cold would give her an excuse for her pink cheeks. “Well, I’m a certified caffeine addict and not a morning person while my friend loves a good party. We made a bet that I could only have a caffeinated drink once a week and he could only have alcohol once a week. Both of us hate it but refuse to give it up and take the loss.”

She smiled up at him as he opened the door to the coffee shop. “Might just be a bit competitive.”

“Wouldn’t have guessed,” he answered with a low chuckle.

They joined the queue and Rose started playing with the ends of her hair. “So, what is your bet with your friend.”

The smile that slowly spread across his face was positively wicked and Rose completely forgot that it was cold outside. Oh, to see that smile in a much different setting. “I managed to get Lucie to bet that she couldn’t make it a week without insulting me.”

“She insult you a lot, then?”

“Oh, constantly,” he said dryly. “We’ve known each other since we were eleven.”

“Ah,” Rose replied, understanding that dynamic. “But wait, wasn’t she insulting you in text messages when you ran into me?”

They reached the counter before he could explain. He raised an eyebrow at the number of shots of espresso she ordered in her drink but didn’t say anything as he handed over the correct amount of cash to buy her drink.

“You weren’t kidding about being a caffeine addict,” he murmured close to her ear as they moved to wait for her coffee to be made.

Rose tried to suppress a shiver as his breath ghosted over her skin. “Nope! Now,” she said, moving to lean against the counter, “was your friend losing the bet when texting you earlier?”

“No, she was complimenting me in increasingly sugary sweet epithets that obviously mean the opposite of what they say.” He shook his head, “It’s actually quite disturbing.”

“I’ll bet!”

The man was opening his mouth to say something else but Rose’s order was called and she smiled at him apologetically before brushing past him to claim her coffee.

“No spilling this one,” she warned as she walked back.

“I wouldn’t dare.”

Rose lingered for a moment, not really wanting to venture back outside or leave this man’s company for the drudgery of work but she was pushing it with her arrival time already.

“I’ve got to get to work. Thanks so much for buying me a new coffee. Definitely made my morning more interesting,” she finally said, instinctively moving to hug him.

He accepted the hug with a surprised hum of pleasure. “It was my pleasure entirely, believe me.”

He held the door for her as they exited the shop and they said goodbye before heading in opposite directions. Rose was just taking a sip of her coffee when he called out for her to wait.

She turned and saw him standing a few yards away, hands stuck deep in his pockets like he was nervous. “Terribly rude of me but I never got your name.”

Rose grinned. “I’m Rose. Rose Tyler. What’s yours?”

“Jonathon Smith,” he answered with a smile of his own. His tense posture didn’t ease though. “Well, Rose Tyler, I don’t suppose you’d be interested in getting dinner with me sometime, would you?”

She raised her coffee cup in a salute. “Well we’ve already managed coffee, might as well give dinner a go. I’d love to, really.”

“Brilliant!” He exclaimed, hands coming out of his pockets as he spun around in triumph.

They exchanged numbers before walking away from each other once more. Rose had just made it to her desk when her phone buzzed with a new text message asking if tonight was too early to go for dinner.

She emphatically told him that it was not and that she couldn’t wait to see him again, so long as he didn’t introduce himself by spilling another drink on her.

He made no promises seeing how it had worked out in his favor the first time.

(It worked in his favor again when he accidentally tipped over a glass of wine and splattered her shirt while they were sitting on his couch after three weeks of dates and bets that had been won by Rose and lost by Jonathon. She took one look at her stained shirt and declared that it had to go before whipping it off.)

(He made a point of telling her later that he was very indebted to his habit of spilling things.)


End file.
